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Adventures in...Blue Lagoon?

After a long hiatus from roleplaying, I finally got a group together to play this past weekend, and it turned out to be one of the best sessions I've run in a long time.

The setup: I knew going in this group would take a planned adventure off the rails quickly, and I prefer a sandbox game anyway. Thanks to some inspiration from Skyrim, I decided a coven of witches would figure in early on, but that was the extent of my prep work.

The players:

Sorona, a fire dancer at the Sleepy Seagull, the local tavern, played by my six-year-old-daughter.

Bella, a barmaid at the Sleepy Seagull played by my four-year-old daughter.

Nessa, a mender of fishing nets played by my wife.

I asked my wife to name the starting village, but I had to veto her suggestion of “Tahiti”. Still, I went with her desire for a tropical theme and started the threesome in the island village of Blue Lagoon (not much better than Tahiti, but at least it fits the game world). I simply changed the coven of witches to Sea Hags, and we were off.

The girls wake up to a typically sunny day, eat some breakfast, and get ready to start their daily routine. However, a vicious storm rolls in, and a change of plans is in order. I ask what the players would like to do, and my six-year-old answers, “Kill.” What? Luckily, they instead accept my wife’s suggestion to batten down the hatches, and head into town to gather some information.

At this point, my six-year-old again pipes in theorizing that there’s a mean man in the clouds causing the storm, and they need to go deal with him. As my wife’s mouth hangs open in surprise, I quickly adjust my plans to “storm giant in the clouds, possibly summoned by the Sea Hags”. They head over to the Sleepy Seagull and discuss their plans over drinks (Sea Urchin Ale for Nessa, blueberry and strawberry-banana coconut milk for the girls, courtesy of Hank, the tavern-keep and Bella and Sorona’s boss). My daughter explains that they need to get some wings to put on their backs so they can fly up to the clouds and fight the mean man.

Proud once again of her creativity, I introduce them to the local medicine-woman-slash-shaman, Shandra. Shandra does indeed have three sets of wings available for the low, low price of a future favor.

GM:

This sets up their next adventure nicely. Shandra asks them to collect some rare alchemical ingredients – sea urchin venom, mother of pearl, octopus ink, and one electric eel – which will hopefully provide a chance to introduce the Sea Hags.

Since the wings are temporary, Nessa astutely inquires about some feather fall potions and trades the color of her hair (thanks, Neil Gaiman ) for three.

Outside, they attach their gossamer wings and head into the heavy winds to confront the giant.

GM:

Because of the heavy winds, I required them to roll every round to maintain direction and altitude. At one point my youngest rolled a natural 20 (and was despondent because she wanted to roll her age ), so I ruled that she no longer needed to roll.

A few rounds of flying and some fantastic spot checks (my youngest rolled her second consecutive 20) brought them in range of the Storm Giant controlling the storm. Amid gale force winds carrying the deep, booming voice of the giant (reminiscent of the Fellowship of the Ring traversing the Misty Mountains), they require no prompting to commence with the violence.

Me: “What do you want to do?”
Four-year-old: “Hit him with my sword!”
Me, grinning from ear to ear: “Roll initiative.”

Bella and Sorona score a couple of early sword-strikes while Nessa flounders in the strong winds and the giant calls down some lightning. Sorona challenges the giant with a punch to the face, but receives in kind and is knocked unconscious. Nessa finally gets control of her wings just in time to catch the falling Sorona; meanwhile Bella switches to the tried and true kick-him-in-the-shins maneuver. Things are looking grim as Nessa has her hands full staying aloft with the dying Sorona in her arms and tries to call a retreat, but Bella is undeterred. After a couple of tense rounds she finally scores the killing blow and the giant falls to the water below. Nessa calls out a prayer to the Goddess of Ice and Snow to heal Sorona, and is rewarded with a max roll on the d6.

GM:

We’re not using any particular system. I simply gave each PC 10 hp and gave the giant 20. High rolls were hits, low rolls were misses, and I required a roll of 15 or better for the few shots with a bow because of the strong winds. As for the healing spell, I just went with what my wife described. None of the PCs have a character class, but I foresee their abilities solidifying as the campaign progresses.

As the storm clears, they fly back to the ground, and a few minutes later their wings disappear with a “pop”. That night, the village of Blue Lagoon holds a feast in their honor, with strawberry coconut milk for all.